climbers

"Not everyone who starts the journey with you deserves to be with you at the end. You just need to realise who it is that you need to get to the next level"

"I have a love-hate relationship with Everest. It’s the weather, it’s the route… and when you acclimatise, you have to use supplemental oxygen.But you must never underestimate any mountain, because everyone has their own Everest."

"Just like our Grade 7 teachers were amazing, they were irrelevant for tertiary, right? Not because they were bad people, but they were not going to work for us. Many times in life, we are loyal to our own detriment."

"After years of climbing, she made New Hampshire’s her final ascent in 1932. She was 82 years old. On her gravestone in is written: “You have brought uncommon glory to women of all time.”"

"(1st edition 1913)"

"I climb for pleasure, for the wonderful views and the vigorous exertion, for the relaxation of a complete change for mind and body, and because of the inspiration to the spirit. To combine exploration with must, no doubt, so increase the interest as to well repay the augmented difficulties. All I would emphasize is that to climb anywhere repays the effort, even if it must be within reach of civilization and where others have gone before. To me there is ample reward in the uplift of the spirit; in the moral discipline, the keen interest, and the training to think, of a hard battle carefully planned, in the satisfaction of a love of adventure, and in the invigorating physical exercise."

"Keen's experience on inextricably linked her with the . In 1914 she returned to explore the in , hiring the plucky Handy, a local sourdough, and a topographer from Boston. The later named a section of the near the Harvard Glacier the Dora Keen Range. Keen wrote and gave lectures about her expeditions. She wanted to reach out in particular to other women."

"Interest was heightened by the knowledge that the 162,000 acres of land already cultivated in the , where is located, were to triple through a great irrigation project inaugurated by . In 1930 it was well under way when the project was abandoned. An American engineer, Charles W. Sutton, long in the service of Peru, was adding to his fame and usefulness by undertaking to bring from the Huancabamba River, tributary to the Amazon, by means of a tunnel through the mountains, water to supplement the service of the coastal streams."

"... my mother got a phone call from Dora one day. And it was in 1948. And she said to my mother, "Have you decided who you are going to vote for in the for ?" And my mother said, "No, I haven't." "Well," she said, "I'll be up to talk to you about it." And my mother was one vote. And she drove from all the way to for one vote."

"... this woman, now nearly sixty, with graying hair and steel-rimmed glasses, was a monster of persistence. She was determined to become the first known human to ascend the summit of the forbidding , which she hoped would prove to be the highest in the , the "apex of America." And so she went on to reach Huascarán's summit on her sixth onslaught. Her achievement was heralded by ' as "one of the most remarkable feats in the history of mountain-climbing." Upon her death at eighty-four, the ' called her the most famous of all women mountain climbers."

"... The conquest in 1895 of the grand old , and the unmerited notoriety attained thereby, spurred me on to the accomplishment of some deed which should render me worthy of the fame already acquired. The most feasible project seemed to be the ascent of in Mexico, its summit the highest point which had been reached in North America. This became, under the auspices of the ', in 1897, the easy goal of my ambition and gave me temporarily the world's record for women."

"Fortunate the traveler, who, 7 or 8 miles below Las Cuevas, has at the head of a side valley at the north a glimpse of colossal ' 15 miles away, a long ridge of snow arching into two domes, with a sheer drop of 10,000 feet on its black southern wall; and farther on a sight of ', 30 miles away at the south: both mountains first climbed in 1897 by the , though he unfortunately was compelled by to forego the satisfaction of attaining either summit himself. The first to reach the supposed apex of the , the top of Aconcagua, according to the latest measurement, 22,817 feet, was , the celebrated Swiss guide, who in almost every land has led English and Americans to the summits of noted mountains. Alone, January 14, 1897, he gained this height, and there erected a stone man as is the custom where possible. In April of the same year, the first ascent of Tupungato, 21,451 feet, was made also by Zurbriggen, and the Englishman, Vines."

"April, 1912, found her back again at , where she met George W. Handy, in whom she had confidence, and invited him to join the party. With six other men and dog sledges they started up on the 22nd. This time she was determined and would not be stopped if it were humanly possible to succeed. Thirty-three days altogether were spent on the snow and ice, 22 without tents and 10 almost without food. Caves dug in the snow provided shelter up to 12,000 feet. From there, in weather clearing after a succession of severe storms, she and Handy reached the summit on May 19, 8:30 a.m. It had taken four weeks. The view was perfect in every direction for up to 200 miles. The return took three days to Base Camp and two more to ."

"On May 19, 1912, after 27 days of climbing, Dora (one month shy of her 41st birthday) became the first person to reach the top of Mount Blackburn. When she got home, people flocked to her lectures and photo presentations about her climb. She used her platform to advocate for women’s rights and philanthropic causes. ... END NOTE: In the 1960’s, determined that the highest summit of Mount Blackburn wasn’t actually the eastern side that Dora (and George) climbed but the Western peak which is taller by 200 feet. However, the eastern route is much longer and harder, so many guides today still give her credit for this first ascent."

", 16,140 ft., and latitude 61º 44', is within 60 ft. of the highest of the . The completion of the , 196 miles long, from to the famous of the , in April, 1911, brought Mt. Blackburn tow within 35 miles of civilization. I had gone to Alaska merely to see the wonderful scenery, of the southwest coast, by boat and train, and because I wished to see the only remaining pioneer region of America. Knowing that I should find no Swiss guides in Alaska, I had no idea of doing any serious mountain climbing. Indeed, it was late in July that I first read of Mt. Blackburn, by chance, in a prospector's cabin, in the wilds of the Kenai Peninsula, where I was hunting for a big brown bear. There, in a Report of the United States Geological Survey, Mt. Blackburn was mentioned as never having been ascended, and as "worthy of the hardiest mountaineer.""

"For the first time in my life I was able to think. I do not mean to think objectively or analytically, but rather to surrender thought to my surroundings. This is a power of which we know little in the West but which is a basic of abstract thought in the East. It is allowing the mind to receive rather than to seek impressions, and it is gained by expurgating extraneous thought. It is then that the Eternal speaks; that the mutations of the universe are apparent; the very atmosphere is filled with life and song; the hills are resolved from mere masses of snow, ice and rock into something living. When this happens the human mind escapes from the bondage of its own feeble imaginings and becomes as one with its Creator.""

"Climbing is such a natural thing as human beings. It’s part of how we used to survive"

"It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves."

"They’re climbing within their comfort zone, and mitigating these risks, and choosing to do something that keeps them fit, active, healthy and happy."

"Very difficult thing to do. If you look at performance record of managers, being human hurts you and 80% of managers under-perform benchmark over short- and long-term period, it's tough game."

"But the basic pleasure in the hills is the natural environment which can be as fulfilling in later life as rock climbing was in one’s heyday. Equally dangerous when old (and particularly solo) and thus most satisfying to the spirit because the delight in challenges and the pleasure in calculating risks never dies."

"In September 2009 I climbed Mount Manaslu, the world’s eighth-highest mountain. It was, without a doubt, my toughest climb to date. I was so far out of my comfort zone. There were moments when I thought I just couldn’t do it. Each day was the hardest day of my life. I’ll always look back at that trip and remember the pain, the fear."

"I think you need to be able to focus on the secular, i.e. focus on big trends because there is so much noise that various issues bring that clearly influence the price movement in the near-term but ultimately doesn't shift the needle."

"I’ve always been an active child – I was the one on school trips clambering up rocks and getting stuck while others complained about blisters and heavy bags – but more adventurous climbing was never on my radar"

"To be honest, I don’t have the best memories of the summit. When I think of my successes on Everest, I don’t think of getting to the summit, I think of other scary moments, working together as a team. By that point, I’d had all the experience I needed. The summit has been hyped up by the media – there’s so much more to Everest than reaching the peak."

"One of the key things is to understand there are no limits to your knowledge (and) understanding what you can do."

"But it's difficult, we are humans, that's why maybe machines at some point will be better at optimizing the information flow, optimizing for judgment and crowding of the market and may come up with better portfolios."

"It's having this trust in people around you; when you're thrown an opportunity - embracing it, though it may be really scary, because at the end of the day, you can do it - you have a toolbox being a professional. It's all about just breathing deeply and having allies, so having a team, you can never do stuff like that on your own"

"Mentally commit 100%. Redpointing requires a different approach to onsighting and you need to change your mindset. I am not a natural redpointer as I want things to happen quickly: I’m not particularly patient. But I’ve learnt that the routes do come if you persist and train appropriately. Once you can do all the moves on a project, it’s a case of trying to link them together in longer overlapping sections. It’s surprising how quickly this stage can come together."

"On one hand you know you can hang around and recover to work things out, but hanging around too long and half-trying a move over and over again depletes your power levels."

"There is so much more freedom and enjoyment in a very different way. When you make your passion your job, it’s difficult to stay in love with that. This stage has brought it all back, fulfilled me again"

"Was I proud to be a pioneer? Apart from my being the first woman guide I wasn’t that different from my peers. Women mountaineers went way back and then there was the generation immediately before me: role models who formed an all-women club three years before I was born."

"Writing, becoming a successful writer, was a different matter but not unique in the trade. We don’t choose a course in life; our genes dictate the route. I wasn’t born to be a climber and a writer, rather I was inclined to both genetically and the influences arrived: a supportive parent, a perceptive English teacher, favourite authors."

"The best things about climbing? Unlimited space. I know where I am in mountains. The stillness: not silence because there is always some sound even if it’s no more than a breeze over rock, but there is no noise. Solitude is fine but, even better, just one companion: the other person on the rope with whom there is a bond that transcends any other relationship: trust, faith, an intimacy that is asexual but essential because in the last resort you are each responsible for the other’s life."

"That thing you did 10 years ago that was significant everyone is doing it now. The thing you did a year ago, you’ve been copied"

"Mt. Everest is now the wealthy executive’s midlife crises."

"It is about what is happening within the group of people you have chosen to go with. The teams who failed, very few of them where actually stopped by the mountain. Even the ones caught in the storm they made complacent mistakes that made them vulnerable when things went wrong and then the teams that succeed it’s about the set of intangible tools a real clarity of purpose for your team"

"Forbes - at the #ForbesUnder30 Summit in Botswana, Ouma Sekokole (April 2022)"

"You need to have your ability to explore your human potential, which needs a lot of discipline, focus, positivity and removing all the negativity that is around you"

"As a climber, it's not about the summit, it's about the process"

"Summiting Everest (And Africa’s Cancer Crisis) | Forbes Under 30 Africa (May 2022)"

"It has frequently been noticed that all mountains appear doomed to pass through the three stages: An inaccessible peak—The most difficult ascent in the Alps—An easy day for a lady."

"Не я предала советскую власть, а она меня. И не только меня одну – весь горский народ. Она отняла нашу свободу, землю, радость, наши горы и даже наш вкус- ный воздух. Я беспредельно чтила Ленина, верила Сталину. Была патриоткой до мозга костей. Помню, как меня вдохновляли песни про Ленина, про Сталина, с каким воодушевлением я пела: Широка страна моя родная, Много в ней лесов, полей и рек. Я другой такой страны не знаю, Где так вольно дышит человек! Пела до тех пор, пока «страна моя родная» не накинула мне петлю на шею. Вот когда дыхание перехватило... Все разом изменилось 23 февраля 44-го. Когда мне цинично заявили: «Раз ты патриотка, помоги нам лишить тебя родины, родителей и даже жизни», пришлось, наконец, понять, что есть советская власть."

"I saw him in the studio treating the microphone like an old friend, chatting away, waving his arms about, and I knew this was how it was done."

"Climbing to my mind finds its chief justification as an antidote for modern city life. One cannot sweat and worry simultaneously. The mountain resolves itself into a series of simple problems, unconfused by other issues. Its problems are solid rock, to be wrestled with physically; and in the sheer exuberance of thinking through his fingers and toes as his primaeval fathers did before him the climber's worries vanish, sweated from his system, leaving his brain free to appreciate beauty."

"They crawled like flies over the face of the Cobbler; and it was not too fanciful to imagine that the mountain might sigh in its sleep, shake a rocky paw free of the heather blanket which surrounded it, and brush the insects off. To us, who had imagined mountain tops to be uninhabited deserts, it was surprising that there should be so much life in this twisted landscape of rock. Here was a society whose existence we had never suspected."

"The impact of these things and people on our minds was considerable. In the three years since we had left school, many things had happened to make us suspect that the world was a slightly less ordered and restricted place than we had been led to believe. But this was immense."

"The scale is so vast and so far beyond his comprehension that the conventional signs of the cliff mean as little as those on the map. Therefore, if he should think of rock climbing at all, it is as a foolhardy sport clear against the laws of God, man, and Sir Isaac Newton."

"In time (though there was no such thing as time) the handhold gave way to another handhold, and another, and another. A pair of boots appeared level with my face. I pulled myself over the edge and sat panting. Murdo smiled at me, and automatically I smiled back. I turned, and looked over the edge. And then, and only then, did the gears re-engage and the world become the world again."

"The tent door faced the summit. The three pinnacles were gigantic fingers, black against the sunset. Nothing stirred. Arrochar and all its works were out of sight below the skyline, and there was silence."